Occasionally, you might notice that app usage records (the applications being used while the Hubstaff time was tracking time) are missing from your account. This can be frustrating, but rest assured, there are usually logical explanations for this discrepancy. In this article, we’ll explore the most common reasons for missing app records, along with steps to identify and resolve those issues.

Connectivity issues

If you are facing internet connectivity issues, an unstable connection, or slow upload speeds, this may be the reason why app records are missing from your account. As soon as Hubstaff finds a good/stable internet connection all the queued data will get uploaded. App records are not lost, they will get uploaded as soon as the app detects a stable internet connection. Recorded data is stored locally on the member’s computer prior to upload.

If this issue keeps affecting you, here are some steps you can try:

• Leave the timer open for a few minutes after you finish your work day (you can stop the timer, just leave it open. Don’t close the app). This will allow it some extra time to upload the data.
• Close and re-open the timer to force it to refresh and attempt a connection to our servers.
• Click the refresh button in the bottom left corner of the app.
• Identify and address any internet issues you may be facing where you are working.

The timer app being used doesn’t support app usage tracking

You may be looking at your data on the site and be wondering why apps records are missing even though you were tracking time. Not all of our timer apps can record apps usage. If you need this to be tracked, you will need to use our Desktop timers on Windows, MacOS, or Linux. The web timer, chrome extension, and the mobile applications (iOS/Android) cannot track app usage records (This also applies to screenshots and URL records). To learn more, here is our guide: https://support.staging.hbstf.co/time-tracker-apps-overview/

Track App and URLs setting is off in the organization settings

If the Track apps & URLs setting is turned off in the organization settings (either across the whole organization, or for particular members), then you will not see app usage records captured or showing.

To check if App recording is on:

1. Go to Settings
2. then Activity and Tracking
3. then Activity
4. Finally, select Track apps and URLs (It can be set on an organizational level or by member)

The project was archived

When projects are archived in Hubstaff, the app records associated with those projects will no longer be visible. Historical time for the project would remain accessible in reports and visible in the timesheets of the team members. If you archived a project, but want to see the app records data for it, you will need to go to the archived projects area and restore the project.

The time was deleted

If time is deleted in Hubstaff, all associated app records are also deleted along with it. When you delete time entries, all data is permanently removed from the server and cannot be restored. Please exercise caution when deleting time and activities in Hubstaff.

Time zone differences between the member and organization

Depending on the person viewing the data, the time zones may be different and may cause the viewer to see different data than someone else viewing the same time spans. This may create the false impression that app usage records are missing entirely, while in reality they are just logged on a different date or time of day than what the viewer of the page is expecting.

It is important to note that while each person may see different information, the recorded data is not lost or incorrect, it is only adjusted based on what time zone the data is being viewed. We have a guide for this called Viewing your data in different time zones.

A common confusion occurs when app usage records appear on a different day than expected.
This happens when a team member tracks time around midnight in their time zone or the organization’s. For example, a New York company may have a team member based in Japan.
That person works U.S. business hours, which span before and after midnight in Japan.
As a result, their app usage records split across two separate days in their local time. If management views records in New York time, they’ll see all data grouped on one day.

The time was tracked as Idle Time

Idle time is any time that was tracked without activity of the mouse or keyboard. If you’re missing app usage records, the time may have been tracked as idle. The app does not record app usage during idle time. Idle time begins when there’s no mouse or keyboard activity for a set period. The timer tracks idle time based on the organization’s idle timeout setting. You can set this timeout to 5, 10, 20 minutes, custom, or never.